Question-Week ending Sunday 01/12/03:
Do you use any type of Goal Planning System to Effectively Achieve Your Goals? Please read our Poll Commentary before taking this poll.
Pre-Poll Commentary:
The beginning of January is an opportune time of the year to discuss the importance of activities such as Goal Planning. Replacing our old calendars with new one's can present the incentive to fill up this new calendar with dates and deadlines of things we want "to do," places we want "to go," and accomplishments we want "to achieve." It's easy to talk big and make predictions at this time of the year. But if you don't sit down and invest the time and energy in Goal Setting and Planning, just skip the big talk and predictions.
Goal Planning is a skill that must be learned and repeated often to be effective. Like all other learned skills, there is no magic for turning dreams into reality. Success in all that we do in life revolves around having a system and following sound principles that produce predictable results. Individuals who invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase a Franchise Business like McDonald's are buying a proven system that has been designed over years to prove predicable results. To design your own system from scratch could require years of valuable time, research, resources and the very costly frustrations of trial and error learned at the School of Hard Knocks.
In our polls during the next seven weeks we will present "A System" for Effective Goal Planning for achieving predictable results. Below are some sound fundamentals we'll be discussing and steps to practice in order to turn dreams into reality.
- Desire and Belief - you must know exactly what you want and believe that it's possible
- Commit in writing – turning dreams into reality by writing goals down
- Benefits and Analysis – list all the ways you or others will benefit from your goal and analyze your starting point
- Listing Obstacles – list all obstacles you must overcome
- Listing Resources – list the resources and people who can help you overcome obstacles
- Write out a detailed plan - with deadlines for each objective
- Execute your plan - Passionately keeping score and using visualization to create a clear mental picture of exactly how it will feel to achieve your goal
We hope you will participate and benefit from this new weekly poll series. One can say "I know all that stuff." However, too few individuals actually practice a system for achieving their goals. Join the cream of the crop club and those New Year Predictions might just come true!
Let us know what you think about a using a goal setting system in this week's poll. This poll will end on Sunday 01/12/03. Watch for the results and summary by Monday morning 01/13/03.
Results:
69% answered No - I need a new system
21% answered Yes - My system works well
10% answered No - I don't need a system
00% answered No - I'm too busy to plan
Post-Poll Commentary:
An overwhelming 69% of our respondents are open to using a new system for Goal Achievement. This is an encouraging start for our new seven week poll series.
Systems play a vital part in all of our lives. They maintain order and balance and help us to achieve predictable results. To illustrate the importance of some of the systems surrounding us, let's just list a few examples. What would happen if one of the following systems surrounding us became unbalanced or ceased to work properly?
- Solar System
- Weather System
- National, State, or City Governmental Systems
- Educational System
- Judicial System
- Respiratory, Circulatory or Nervous System
I think you will agree that when any one of the above systems operates inefficiently, the imbalance can lead to trouble and tough times ahead. The same holds true for a goal achievement system. You need to follow some proven system for achieving predictable results by methodically planning and executing each step toward completion. Getting started is perhaps the most difficult part of learning this system. However, once learned and repeated often, you will develop the rhythm, momentum and passion it takes to achieve your goals on a regular basis.
Don't wait any longer to begin planning the things you want "to do," places you want "to go," or accomplishments you want "to achieve." Be passionate and make things happen. Invest the time to learn and practice the system we present over the next seven weeks. Enjoy!